I like the idea of having a hobby that I can do with my husband. With these new-found country house weekends, I decided to give this cycling stuff a go. Each weekend (for the last month or so) we’ve been taking epic rides up and down the hills of Northwest Connecticut, Southern Massachusetts and Northeastern New York State.I am afraid to have my feet clipped in, so I use flat pedals like my old 10 speed had when I was a kid. I have not quite gotten used to the fact that road bikes have 20 speeds. Until yesterday I stuck to basics and kept it in the first 10 speeds - staying comfortably in the little ring on the bike. I’d always run out of gear about 19 mph. When that happened, I’d happily coast until I slowed down enough to pedal again.On Saturday, we learned about a group ride organized by Bike New York that would circle the Harlem Valley on Sunday. The ride options ranged from 18-100 miles long. Me and the Mr. opted to bite off the 75 mile ride. I recently (on Saturday!) broke through my fear of changing from the little ring to the big ring and could now hold over 20 miles an hour on flat ground. Wheeee!The ride was going great. We both felt fantastic and the two of us were faster than 95% of the riders with us. I had some intrepidation about riding so close to other people to start, but ended up warming up to it by about mile 10. It was actually a lot of fun because drivers were all fully aware a group ride was going on, so it felt safer than our regular two person weekend rides.

I hit nearly 40 miles an hour down a hill near Lime Rock ~ exhilarating!

We departed Millerton, New York at about 8:15am. We zoomed around the Lime Rock Race Track – it was *so* cool to ride bikes on the smooth cement around the track! We tooled up through Sharon, Connecticut near Carolyne Roehm’s beautiful estate, and back into New York State where we hopped onto the Harlem Valley Rail Trail.

It was on the HVRT at Sharon Station that the roots of a tree had grown beneath the smooth cement of the trail. There was a shadow from the tree above and I could not see the sharp rise in the pavement through my sunglasses. It was then that I hit the bump (at over 20 mph!) my hand slipped on the handle bar and my front wheel jack-knifed below me. The Mr. was only a foot off my wheel and did not have time to respond. His bike ran over my back tire and he landed on my head (cracking my helmet!) as we skidded about 10 feet down the rail trail.

O U C H

There was lot’s of crying on my behalf. I was shaking and in shock. I am not used to this kind of impact or taking part in sporting activities that can cause bodily harm like what I experienced yesterday. The entire right side of my shoulder, elbow, ribs, hip, bum, and knee are covered in what cyclists call ‘road rash.’ My left side seems to have more bruises. Somehow during all of this my left thumb got pinched, and bruised. No blackberry typing for me for a while – Boo!

He left the accident nearly unscathed – seems I broke his fall – what a good wife I am, taking the fall for him like that, no? {winkwink} The biggest bummer is that we’d signed up for a ‘big ride’ and only finished about a quarter of it.

Two women stopped to help us after the fall. They stuck bandages all over my elbow and taped up my bleeding fingers. They went on their way. More riders zoomed by. A few more fell at the bump, but no one seemed to crash the way me and the Mr. did.

It was when I discovered the cuts on my right side for the second (or maybe third?) time that we opted to call an ambulance. They arrived on the scene within minutes. They decided after cleaning my wounds and bandaging me up and after running multiple on the spot concussion tests that I “Seemed to be okay.” I was just shaken-up and was not in need of a visit to the hospital – as long as “Your husband watches you for any sign of dizziness or if your headache gets worse.”My biggest concern now is that my right arm isn’t working particularly well – I don’t know it’s a muscular thing, or if I re-injured my collar bone? Back in 1998 I had a terrible car accident that left me with a broken collar bone. They don’t really do anything to ‘fix’ a broken collar bone, except give you a harness (which can be purchased at the pharmacy) to strap on your shoulders that keeps them straight.We’ll see how I feel as the next few days progress. My head is still still aching – but it hasn’t gotten worse. I am going to take it easy – posts and my twitter time might be scant until I am well on the mend. Since Memorial Day we’ve been planning to ride a century (100 miles!) for charity in a ride called the Tour of Litchfield. I wonder if anyone can fix my broken bike and my achy body by next weekend?

Posted by Amy Beth Cupp Dragoo / Personal and Uncategorized